Friday, February 26, 2016

Friday Fricassee

Yesterday, I posted the following on my real-life-me Facebook page:

Brushing the dust off a few-years-old novel and reworking it. It feels like skipping the draft and going right to the FUN, which is revising!
Lots of work ahead, though. I've got a fire crackling in the hearth, and I just may grab an Angry Orchard. Love storytelling! Love!
As soon as I posted it, I had a thought: How many of my friends will read this and think, why does she spend so much time on this? It's not getting her anywhere.

Seriously. I had that thought.

Thing is, folks on the "outside" (muggles, as it were) don't understand why. You and I and everyone else who crafts words DEEPLY UNDERSTAND. This is my career, my calling, my Number One Thing. And I continue to write because I intend to be published, and then to continue to write, and to continue to be published, and so on. 'Til the grave.

I've been on Facebook for too long many years, and I can only imagine how many writing-themed statuses I've left there. Because I write a lot. And I can't help imagining the eye-rolling that goes on. And the skipping-over-this-post-because-who-cares-what-she's-writing.

If I'm not careful, those kinds of thoughts will lead to seeds of self-doubt, which happens to be a writer's nemesis. Am I right? So instead of dwelling on the what-do-my-friends-think, I came here to write this post instead, because you and I are in this together, and I know you get it.

I'm a writer, and I can't pretend to be anything less. And neither should you.

9 comments:

I think this is the first time I have commented although I read your emails every friday. This one more than any other resounded with me! I feel the exact same way you do, but I post my status's anyway because my writing is everything to me.I may never be Jk or Stephen king but it really doesnt matter because I will be published. I just have to keep those doubt fairies at bay!

I find that getting published in short fiction really helps stave off those doubts. It's cheating, obviously, from an emotional growth standpoint, but I highly recommend it to any of you who write SciFi, and I know pretty much everyone on this thread has the writing ability to make it happen. There's a pretty strong market in short scifi (which there isn't in other genres), and if you start by sending stories to the publishers on the SFWA's approved markets list you'll feel pretty good about yourself when you make one in. It's easier than a novel, for sure (which of course is what we're all still struggling for), and it's a fun way to build a reading audience REALLY SLOWLY (but surely).

That said, making it in or not making it in to a teeny weeny pro list like that doesn't really solve the root that you're talking about, here, does it? = P In the end, no matter what you end up publishing or not publishing people will always look at your writing life like it's your hobby, and wonder why you do it, even if you become relatively successful. Until you're Steven King, they won't see you as the real thing.

And that's because they're stupid! Because WE are the real thing! Stephen King, however his name is spelled, is the fantasy, the unreality, the legend of maybe that rarely happens and that no one's actually met, who will eventually be forgotten just like everyone else. But the NOW, the community, the hours spent alone carving out unknown worlds, that's the real thing. That's WRITING.

I realized recently I'd much rather be real. If that makes sense.

Anyway, thanks as always for the good post, Authoress! Keep up that writing!

I'm not very active on Facebook, as there are several things about it that I don't find very user friendly, and I especially dislike the way their algorithm (or whatever it is is) means that if you don't post frequently, when you do post, no one sees it anyway. So I've never posted much about writing there. (Though I actually did share a post and add a comment that had to do with my writing just yesterday -- but since no one will see it, it doesn't really matter, does it?!) :P

In any case (as we've all commiserated about before!), this is another reason why it's so nice to have places like this where we can find others who truly understand what we're talking about, because so many non-writing friends either never show any interest in one's writing endeavors, or lose interest in the topic very quickly when they don't see our novels in the bookstore.

Just a couple of month ago I saw a dear friend I've known for many years whom I hadn't seen for a while. When I showed her a proof copy of my novel, I was surprised and disappointed at how very little interest she showed in it; she scarcely looked at it, and then seemed to be almost in a hurry to set it aside and change the subject.

But what can you do? Say, "Excuse me, but apparently you don't realize that writing is the most important thing in my life, and it would mean the world to me if you would buy a copy and let me sign it for you"? ;) I'm sure that's what most of us really want to say in that situation, but I'm afraid it would seem rather pushy!

I suppose quite a few people who've known me for ages don't even know I'm a writer, as I gave up on trying to talk about it a very long time ago. The general impression I've gotten is just what Petre Pan said: unless you're a big name published author (and they can brag about knowing you!), most people you run across 'in real life' really don't care to hear about it. In fact, I know a lot of people (and these are bright, well-educated people) who don't even read fiction, only nonfiction, so I guess it only makes sense that they would have no interest in the process.

But thanks for sharing, as always. And for the nudge -- yes, I definitely need to go get some writing done now. :)

We totally get it. ^_^ I feel like writing is all I talk about sometimes. But I'm especially glad to see this because I just finished a draft and wanted permission to set it aside for awhile and work on a persistent plot bunny, so I'm interpreting this post as permission. :D I forget how beneficial it can be to let something sit for a while and come back to it later.

I remember a lunch with my mother and my sister. I was in seventh heaven because my characters were entrancing me. Romancing me. So I was full of them. Yet I couldn't explain my elation to my lunch companions because my mother was more interested in jewellery and my sister does cross word puzzles as big as giant jig saw puzzles. It was frustrating. Like you have good news and cannot share it. You lead a secret life. And you live there. Your best friends are ones who live in your head. It's like a kid with an imaginary friend and 'outsiders' think of you as a benign idiot.

I woudn't swap what I do for the world. Because when things are bad, your friends pull you through. They understand fully how you feel. But there are some 'outsiders' who understand which planet you're on...

I've been working for more than 50 years. Truly. And I'm pulling out several old novels to revise because I've learned so much recently. Yes, almost no one is interested; guess that's the way peeps are. The disinterested ones that hurt the most are, like some of the comments, my relatives. I don't talk about my writing with any nonwriters, however. It's like when I go to a party and someone's discussing renovating their house. I don't care about most of the particulars. OR when someone's discussing the Super Bowl in detail!

Authoress, I totally get this! Each time I post about my writing on Facebook, I wonder the same thing...are people rolling their eyes at me? lol It's worse when absolutely no one "likes" those posts, whereas tons of people "like" the things I post that are related to kids or sports or whatever!It sure does make me doubt myself too and doubt the whole writing thing.I'm sure no one understands why I keep writing either:) But as writers we need to stick together, lift each other up, and just know that we all understand why we do this, even if our non-writing friends and family never really will. Thanks for sharing. It always helps to know other writers experience these same types of things too! :)